Strange Happenings...

             It has been a while since my last post. But fear not, lots of things have been happening, so it's not because I have a completely boring life that I have had no current blogs. I took a week long trip to the Quincy area to visit my family and friends. And while there I tried corned beef and cabbage for the first time ever for St. Patrick's day, and found that I actually liked it. I visited some friends I haven't seen in a long time, and I just got to spend some good quality time with my family.
             Our first night at my mom and dad's house, my youngest daughter Danielle decided that she was tired of living in a crawling world. So she took those first actual confident steps in the dining room of my mom's house. AND.... hasn't stopped since! That was March 16 for the record. And you say I don't milestone my kids' accomplishments? LOL.
             I visited my friend Elizabeth Dock and her family in Bowling Green/Louisiana Missouri for half the time that I was in the Quincy area. We had a good time catching up and our kids had a blast playing together. My kids got more TV, sweets and soda during this week of Spring Break than they get in a month at home. Don't think it came from the Dock's house either. The majority of it came from dear dear Grandma and Grandpa Green! While there, Elizabeth got me into the world of Pinterest. Yeah, I said it, I joined the world of Pinterest! I have made a powder form laundry detergent, plan to make 3 different kinds of paint and make a 6-layer rainbow cake for the kids' birthday party all from that website. I have also decided to try my hand in composting. How's that for some creative inspiration? Thank you Elizabeth!
             I don't remember if I have already posted this, so I'll post it again. After Christmas we went hard core on our son Alex to get him potty trained. And after over a month of lots of tears and frustration on my part, I got him 90% potty trained! The other 10% is the bed time area. We'll get there eventually. Unfortunately I have 3 still in diapers/pull-ups during the nighttime hours. Hopefully that will be fixed soon. (fingers crossed)
             My good friend Michelle Schultz came to visit me this last week as well. She brought her daughter Piper. We had a good time taking the kids to the park and the library and just getting to see each other more often now that I don't live 8 hours away. While she was here, one of our baby chickens decided to fly the coop when we had let them come outside for the afternoon. It just so happened to be one of the Easter Egg chickens that got away. I was distraught to the point of repeating myself over the dumb bird. Michelle made fun of me with good reason of course ;) And that should have been the end of it. I of course brooded over the idiotic bird, OVERNIGHT! How pathetic am I?!!!! BUT... Loe and behold, the retarded bird was under the carport. She had managed to survive the night without a heat lamp and without the company of the other 15 birds.
             Nathan took me on a date night on Tuesday night. I got Mexican food, which is my FAVORITE! And he took me to see The Hunger Games. Which was awesome! I recommend everyone to read the books and see the movie!
            One more exciting tidbit of information. I got a job today! The daycare that I applied for like 9 months ago called me on Friday and offered me a position. I start on Monday April 2. I am so excited to be bringing in a little bit of extra money. Even a little bit can help and go a long way!

All I want for...Easter is my two front Teeth

We have hit another milestone in our world of parenthood. My baby, Makenzie, who will be 7 in less than a month, lost her two front teeth this morning. Er, rather with the help of Grandma and Grandpa Green, she got them pulled. :) A little traumatic during the whole ordeal, but of course she is perfectly fine after the fact. My little drama queen. So... barring no more loose teeth any time soon, our tooth pulling adventures should be coming to a close for the time being!

The 'Bunch'

The Great Leap Year Storm 2012

So earlier this week, (February 29 to be exact) the Conway area had a huge storm. It turns out there were tornadoes touching down not even 20 miles from us! And we were in bed, sound asleep. We got 1am phone calls from a few church members warning us. We were okay, by the grace of God! But some areas around us were not so lucky. A few businesses in Lebanon got some damage that is being fixed fairly quickly. Branson got hit, Kansas MO, as did a place called Buffalo. Nathan will be heading to Buffalo today to help assist with any of the people who may have lost their homes. Wish him luck as he does this, and continue praying that we don't get more or worse of what came through the area the other night.

9 Years ago Today!

Oh, I forgot to mention that today is a special day. 9 years ago today, Nathan asked me out while I was working on dish at Steak-N-Shake...And I said YES!!! I haven't looked back since!

PLAYING CATCH UP...

      So this is the first time I have ever done a blog. I've been asked by several friends if I would ever consider doing so. I figured for the longest time that I wouldn't since I had Facebook...but you can't status update whole stories at a time about your life. Well, you could, but those would be really long status updates! :)
      Anyone who reads this blog will know all of the preliminaries about me as well as my family. But I'll go ahead and share a few things anyway, because I'm quirky like that! I am Melinda (duh) and I am 26 years old. I am married to my wonderful husband, Nathan (27), and have been for 7 FANTASTIC years. We have 4 healthy and beautiful children. Makenzie, who will be 7 on April 4, Ashley, who will be 6 on April 6, Alexander, who will be 3 on April 29 (I know what your thinking, ALL APRIL BABIES??!!) and to throw everyone off....Danielle, who just turned 1 on February 8.
       Nathan just graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana on May 20, 2011. And we are currently faithfully serving a Lutheran congregation in Rader, Missouri. We bought our first home this year, and so we have spent the better part of the last 8 months making this our HOME. We'll start at the beginning of this journey...
        In June 2011, we departed Fort Wayne with many heart-wrenching good-byes to head to the small town of Conway, Missouri. We hadn't quite finished the house buying process, so Nathan stayed with a family from our new town, and I embarked upon Quincy IL for a week. At the end of June, Nathan was ordained/installed into Immanuel Lutheran Church. We moved into our new home the very next day!
        August soon progressed upon us, and our two older girls started school at Eleazar Elementary School in Conway, Missouri. Makenzie, my oldest started 1ST GRADE!! And Ashley, started KINDERGARTEN! They ride the bus for the first time ever!!
        I must say that I forgot to mention that the new house came complete with 7 hens. We were getting 6 fresh eggs a day. YUMMY! Then, September came, and we picked up a stray dog from Rader, who only lasted 6 days by the way. In the short time we 'owned' him, he chewed the cord to my electric blanket, and killed 2 of our chickens. We took him back to Rader! A couple of weeks later, we got a Rooster from a member of our church. We named him Jack. We let him out of the coop too soon, and he 'flew the coop?' (Is that the saying?) Needless to say, Jack was no more... A few more weeks later, that same family gave us a second rooster. We named him Jack Jr. He stayed, though he is terrified of us, and his crow sounds hideous. Hmm...
         We'll skip ahead to the current, meaning the last two weeks or so. We added to our colony of chickens... we bought 16 chicks for Cackles Hatchery. 3 of them are Easter Egg chickens!! They will lay blue, pink and green eggs! How cool is that?!  We installed new storm doors to match the windows (white), bought new furniture...and are raising 4 children 6 and under. I think this keeps us busy enough. Oh, and Danielle is slowly learning how to walk. Alex is mastering potty training now that he has the basics. And Makenzie and Ashley are zooming through learning how to read.
                            I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER! I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!!!